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- Title
- Interview with Wesley Memeger, Jr., 2020 September 27
- Date(s)
- 2020-09-27
- Contributor(s)
- Memeger, Wesley, Jr. (interviewee), Nutter, Jeanne D. (interviewer), Eleutherian Mills-Hagley Foundation (originator)
- Description
-
During this interview, Dr. Wesley (Wes) Memeger details his early life in Florida. He describes his family, headed by his grandfather, working and travelling as migrant farmers. He then describes his elementary school, Webster School, and family beach trips to a segregated beach near Saint Augustine.
Memeger goes on to describe his first remembered experience with science, doing pendulum experiments in eighth grade physical science class. He then details his high school years at Excelsior ...
Show moreDuring this interview, Dr. Wesley (Wes) Memeger details his early life in Florida. He describes his family, headed by his grandfather, working and travelling as migrant farmers. He then describes his elementary school, Webster School, and family beach trips to a segregated beach near Saint Augustine.
Memeger goes on to describe his first remembered experience with science, doing pendulum experiments in eighth grade physical science class. He then details his high school years at Excelsior (later Richard J. Murray High School), both his studies and his participation on the football team. He also recounts an incident during a summer working on a flower farm when his mother stood up for him over the objection of the farm's white foreman.
Memeger then describes how he came to attend Clark College. He details various aspects of his college experience, including his dormitory and his chemistry professors. He discusses the impact that his English professor, M. Carl Holman, had on his life. He also details his participation in a 1961 student day of protest for civil rights. He then discusses his membership in Omega Psi Phi and how he met his future wife, Harriet.
Memeger goes on to discuss his graduate education at Adelphi University, including the impact that being a new father had on his graduate school experience. He then details his hiring by DuPont and describes the three other Black chemists who were at the company when he was initially hired. He also discusses how DuPont used a composite sketch of a Black contract employee on the cover of the 200th company anniversary issue of DuPont Magazine.
Memeger then details his involvement on the Kevlar project, describes the molecular structure of the monomer of Kevlar, and lists Kevlar products. He then discusses his patents and other aspects of his career at DuPont. He then speaks about his children and his involvement with the Delaware community serving on the boards of cultural institutions. Finally, Dr. Memeger discusses his life as an artist, from an early sketch of his son to his current projects and his collaboration with his wife, who is a fiber artist.
Show less - Collection ID
- Wesley Memeger oral history project (Accession 2021.202)
- Hagley ID
- 2021202_20200927_Memeger_video
- Collection
- Oral History